Good eats

We've had a really bad drought here in El Salvador the past month or so. I absolutely rejoiced last month when I though the scattered T-storms we experienced signified the end of summer. Nah nah nah. All moisture quickly dried up right after I clicked "Publish" and we haven't seen a drop since. I swear this blog can be cursed sometimes.

I'm getting pretty angry at the skies because my rain dances (which I resumed last week) haven't paid off. My host mom tells me that I must be patient because God will send rain when he is ready. So.... anytime's good! Send it on down!

What does this mean for your average subsistence farming salvadoran? Hunger and pain. All of the corn has dried up and the beans are long gone. People are talking about dramatically high food prices and I'm sitting over here dripping sweat at 7am again.

Yesterday, August 1st, was a very special day in salvadoran culture. They call it "Dia que mata el hambre" or "Day that kills hunger." Because, IDEALLY, this is when you cut some of your miaz nuevo off the stalks to make tamales, tortas, tortillas, and atol. It's a celebration of a strong start to the growing season. My family, being the "rich" people in town, were able to buy some fresh corn off a man who has his milpa close to the river (better access to water, I suppose). All of our corn is dead.

My host mom made a very thick, rich atol. It's a drink made of baby corn mash, milk straight from the cow, salt, sugar and cinnamon. I drank the whole mug, not because I particularly like consuming liquid fat, but because I respect the hard work that went in to growing the maiz. The tamales were adorably miniature and had whole chunks of corn inside. They think I'm crazy because I like to put honey on my corn tamales. It's good, I swear!

It's going to be a long, hard season and I'm not sure how my community will cope. All we can do is pray and rain dance.

WE'RE HALF WAY THERE!

Happy 1 year to COED '13! I'm so proud of us! I'm really disappointed that I don't have more group pics of us. It's alright though. We have a whole nother year to make memories :)

(Obligatory Bon Jovi)

Aysel, wishing me a happy anniversary of course!

The iPad never lies. My countdown finally hits one year!

Keep on keepin' on!

Chili

Thanks to the wonderful Dr. David Berry, a Peace Corps Response Volunteer who just COSed, I ended up with many chili packets. Thinking it'd be a great Second Goal activity, I decided to make chili for my host family.

Well ya see the thing is... campo chili isn't quite the same as futbol norteamericano chili. First I went to the only grocery store in the department and perused their ground beef selection which comprised of "Special ground beef" and "Extra special ground beef." I asked the woman behind the counter if the extra special would be ok with my débil stomach. She literally laughed out loud. I told her that this is really important because I've already had amoebas and I don't want to get them again. She just smiled and said, "Cook it really well!" Right.

This is extra ridiculous because I grew up eating ground pork burgers my whole life and I didn't even know it until I got to college. Is it a good thing that the meat is red? Is that BLOOD?!

So then I spent the next morning boiling black beans. No matter how hot or how long I boiled these beans they would not cook. My host sister looked in and mumbled something along the lines of using up the gas subsidy for the month. We were not getting a good chili start.

The story wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention that we didn't have water that day, so every time I wanted to wash my ground beef hands or wipe the counter I had to haul in water from the pila. (Just a side note- we're going 3 days without water here and it's vernanito so it's back to 100 degree days. Oi ve.)

One way or another I got some semblance of chili made around lunch time. It was.... alright. I guess. I now understand why we eat chili in the winter. It just didn't taste so good when your sweat is dripping over your lips. I ate a bowl thinking "Oh well, it's not so bad." But just an hour later I was rolling around in the hammock clutching my stomach and cursing the ground beef lady behind the counter.

My host family, demonstrating the gracious yet penosa salvadoran culture, declared the chili a success and seemed to eat their full bowls. I told them the spiel about how I miss seasons, and in Chicago it gets super "chili" har har har. They didn't get it. But later that day when I was writhing in the hammock my host dad brought over a fresh coconut water with chunks of coco floating inside. "Drink this," he said. "It might help with your parasites."

It was touching. My host family is still learning about me, and I'm learning about them. Next time though, I'll avoid extra special meat products.

The finished product. 

My host dad, who actually seemed to like it. 

Belky, Aysel and my host mom. Eh, mas or menos. 

Coloring

I've been spending a lot of time with Aysel in-between writing a grant for the art group and working on my capstone. Have you ever written a grant before? It's rough. I wish it would be enough to just say, Hey! We like art and we would like to buy some paint brushes. Can you give us some money?

But it's not that easy. It's all about indicators and outcomes! I'm glad I'm getting the experience though.

Today we colored and she's so darn cute I had to share the pics:

The artist poses at her easel. 

Her work!

My sister's heading to summer camp tomorrow, so I made this drawing for her. Aysel particularly liked the dog.

Have fun, Tate!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It's been a BIG WEEK for Peace Corps! Remember way back when Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet came to El Salvador and I cried all over her? She mentioned some big changes Peace Corps wanted to make. Perhaps the most revolutionary change we discussed was to give those applying the decision making power when it comes to where they are going to serve, when they leave, and what they'd be doing.

Whoa. Now, let me remind you, when I applied in 2012 I filled out the application (which took me weeks to finish) and hoped for a kind-hearted placement officer who would listen to my goals and strengths and match me to an ideal country that departed within a reasonable timeframe so I wouldn't feel like I was wasting away in the Chicago 'burbs. The whole process took about a year. I think my wish was granted, more or less. I'm doing community development and learning Spanish. But what if I had the opportunity to choose where and when? Would I have changed my mind on what I'd want to do when I saw all of the options available?

Now the process starts with a simple question: Where do you want to go? Then afterwards, What do you want to do? These two questions, so simple and yet so incredibly important, lead you to a list of opportunities complete with host country and departure dates.

They say the application takes about 1 hour to complete. Wooow.

I must admit that I'm jealous. I spent 5 minutes playing around with the new interactive application and I was hooked. I immediately started comparing different programs and looking into the cultures of host countries. I wanted to see how easy it was to narrow down what I'd be interested in. (Surprisingly, it was super easy. I am so jealous.)

But you do know what this means, right? Peace Corps just opened itself to the free market. Giving applicants the power to choose means you also give them the power to Google the hell out of where they're thinking about applying to. You're going to see all these new Peace Corps Host Country websites pop-up on the internet. Country Directors are going to have to find a way to prove that the country is safe, the staff is caring, PCVs are harmonious and happy, and the programs are rewarding. Will this prompt competition? Will this push staff to find the best host sites, provide the best training, be the most professional and helpful at all times? 

This might be something that the creators of Peace Corps Wiki had in mind. PC Wiki was your only information source back in the dark ages when you had no choice in nuthin'. Me and my Master's International cohort would check the Wiki page obsessively during our application process. It was all we had when dealing with the tight-lipped bureaucracy that is PC Washington (Maybe was? Have these sweeping changes also affected the bah humbugery of Headquarters staff?). I honestly got an email back from my placement officer that said "How am I supposed to work on your application or anyone else's if you are emailing me? Just be flexible and patient." Oh sorry, just thought I'd check up on my life-altering application since I hadn't gotten ANY PC contact for months. The creators of the PC Wiki page were all about submitting FOIA requests for country specific Early Termination rates. This is something that PC doesn't publicly put out, which is too bad. It gives you a lot of insight into how the country is being run and how the PCVs are feeling. 

Of course, ET rates aren't everything. The language complexity, culture, food, medical attention, climate, work success (or lack thereof), and so much more affect the well being of a PCV.  Just because you don't ET doesn't mean everything is absolutely perfect with your service. Trust me, I know what it's like to stare down the barrel at the one-year mark and seriously contemplate Early Termination. Last month I had said "Not talking about ETing just contributes to the sense of "false advertising" that trails the Peace Corps." I failed to elaborate which false advertising I was referring to. At the time I was thinking of the iconic gaggle of school children reading or playing with a gringo, all smiling, with copy saying something like "For dreamers who do."

Uh, like this one. 

It solicits that warm fuzzy feeling. It feels like the PCV is spiritually fulfilled and reassured that they are making a grand difference in the world and the Peace Corps is just swell. It worked on me. I have my good days, but I also have days where I'm down in the dumps. I often ask myself just what in the hell am I doing here? Those days aren't on the advertisements. 

Recently President Obama did a PSA for Peace Corps inviting Americans to apply. To be fair, he did say that "Life as a Peace Corps Volunteer isn't always easy." As revolutionary as the new application process may be, PC service won't change. Maybe the feeling of autonomy during the application process will carry over into the actual 27 month part and PCVs will feel like they're accomplishing some of the things Obama talks about in the PSA. 

Me being the PR spin doctor I am, I see the chance for PC host countries to put out their own kind of false advertising. Serve in the Dominican Republic, we have beaches! Serve in Mexico, we're close to home! I really hope it doesn't come to that. Maybe they'll put a greater emphasis on gritty, true life blogs (like this one). I try to give the best with the worst and keep the truth in mind. 

Yesterday we got a shipment of fresh COEDs. I don't know if any of them chose El Salvador, but I hope they are happy here either way. 

More thoughts on America

I've been feeling very reflective about the relationship between El Salvador and America lately. Sometimes I am so thankful that I'm serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer HERE because I'm seeing and experiencing a prospective that everyone wants to generalize. We're a hot media topic! Reporters, pundits and the like have been particularly interested in investigating the plight of the solo child immigrant from Central America. I've actually recognized and identified with some of their stories (because I'm biased and only get my news from NPR, and they generally have very solid reporting).

But they can't possibly generalize El Salvador. You just can't sum up every single child immigrant's story, or the increasing gang violence story, or even the faulty government story. There is so much bubbling under the surface, and every day I get a better whiff of what's really cooking in this country.

I've gotten some help from statistics. Ok, they're more like opinion polls, but they give you a good idea on what the people think and feel. I, being the nerd that I am, follow the Pew Research Center on Facebook and I've been pretty impressed by two studies they just published. A study showing that 82% of Salvadorans believe alcohol use is morally wrong kind of proved my point that I don't get to enjoy margaritas like I used to. Or any alcoholic beverage for that matter. What I would do for a nice craft IPA!

I also get the question, "Aren't Americans a target for violence? Aren't you going to get attacked?" quite frequently. Guys, that's just silly. El Salvador loves America. The majority who responded say that yeah, they have a favorable opinion of the United States. There are some 2 million Salvadorans who live in the US, and every one of them has family living back here in the motherland, most likely living on remezas sent from the US. If anything, people want to be my Facebook friend and get married (to me).

This last bit is really interesting to me. I started my English class on July 3rd with this question- "How many people know someone who lives in the US?" Everyone rose their hand.

Perfect way, I thought, to kick off a KWL with my class on America. It took some time to loosen the class up and get the ideas flowing. Possibly because I had just played Frank Sinatra singing "America the Beautiful" three times, and had just shown them these pictures on my iPad:

GOD

BLESS

'MURIICA

I was just really excited to celebrate Independence Day with my fellow Americans! Maybe I was a little intimidating about the land of the free and home of the brave. I finally got some responses from the class. Turns out, they don't know much about America at all. 

There are 50 states, the food is expensive, there are more opportunities, industrial country, culturally acceptable to have tattoos, different language, there's the Statue of Liberty, the FBI exists. (My drawing of Lake Michigan and manifest destiny.)

 For a country who loves America, and who has such a large portion of their recent history and population tied to the US, they have very little knowledge about the place. It spurned some interesting "Want To Learns."

Some highlights: What's the different names of the states? What's typical food? What's the most famous university? Why are there 50 states? What's the largest lake?

 I loved their questions. I really did. It shows some curiosity. I explained the concept of manifest density, and the beauty of Lake Michigan, Yale and Harvard are show-offs, and apple pie is probably the ideal "American" food. I also tried to talk about how Americans are more independent of their family units. Like, it's ok to go away to college. Oh, and a lot of us go to college. Because we finish high school... which is a full day, with sports teams and homecoming dances. But hey! Two of my great-grandparents went through Ellis Island, so that's cool right?

The culture gap got too wide and I fell in. We summarized some of the finer points of my rant in the "Learned" column. Turns out, I can't even generalize my own country. I'd get caught up on a tangent about "Chiraq" or the military or how monstrously we treat Native Americans. I rejected McDonalds, lauded public radio, then showed them my not-so-scandalous tattoo. I kept saying things like, "This is just my point of view! Everyone is different!" but it didn't matter. I was the only America in the room, so my word was gospel truth.

I don't feel like I did America justice. It truly is a great and beautiful country. But of course, they know that. That's why adults and children alike make the camino. I recently talked with my host parents about all the young kids that are streaming across the border. As much "perspective" I may have on the situation, I'll never be able to understand what it's like to let your child go, perhaps forever. My host mom started tearing up when she talked about Wil, and I just let the subject drop.

It's one of the three big Peace Corps goals to better the understanding of Americans on the part of our host country members. That means explaining why you're so different, keeping your cool during interrogations, and always being conscious of the fact that you, the gringo, are the only American ambassador they are likely to ever meet. It's a lot of pressure.

But I did have fun being the official/unofficial America knowitall when I showed my host family my early birthday present from the Kearneys. Maps! So many maps! I've been asking for maps on my wish-list since I got here. They're a PCV's best friend. I was able to show Aysel where her papito lives, where I'm from, New York and Los Angles (which are on opposite sides of the country!), where the Hawks and Cubs play in Chicago, where's the Bean and Sears Tower and.... It was great.

Thank you, Kearneys! You made me a very happy gringa :)

My models, Edwin and Aysel. 

'Murica

I think Noah's blog says it well:

"There's something about living outside the US that makes people far more patriotic than they ever were in the US."

Case-in-point:

Of course we kick-off 4th of July weekend with the national anthem. Get on our patriotic level! (Thank you Noah!)